ro] ANNUAL REGISTER, 1790. ¥ 
800 men, with two pieces of cannon, 
mounted guard every morning at 
January 4th the Thuilleries. That, 
Y 4%) ona day fpecified, the 
re: writer beheld the ex- 
traordinary fpectacle of the king of 
France walking in the gardens with 
fix grenadiers of the bourgeoife mi- 
litia. ‘That the doors of the gar- 
dens were kept fhut while he walk- 
ed in them, in ord-r to exclude all 
perfons but deputies, or thofe who 
precured admiffion tickets, from en- 
tering. ‘That when he re-entered 
the palace, the doors of the gardens 
were thrown open to.all perfons 
Without diftinétien, although the 
queen, with a lady of her court, was 
ftill walking in them. That fhe was 
likewife attendéd fo clofely by the 
pads bourgeoife, that fhe muft have 
poken very low not to be overheard 
by them. That the dauphin (who 
is defcribed as a pretty, well-coun- 
tenanced boy, of five or fix years 
old) was at work, with a little hoe 
and rake, in a fmall garden which 
had been railed off for hisamufement; 
bat that even_he was not without 
a guard of two grenadiers upon 
him. Our author, who was then a 
ftrong advocate for the revolution, 
acknowlédges that it was a fhock- 
ing fpectacle, to behold the royal 
family thus fhut up clofe prifon- 
ero. 
The affembly felt no fmall uneafi- 
niefs at the ill effeét which the con- 
finement of the king (however it 
was attempted to be denied or pal- 
liated) produced upon the public 
opinions in other countries as well 
as at home; and of the ftrong handle 
which it aiipided to their enemies 
for calling in queftion the validity 
ef thofe laws to which his fandtion 
* See Young’s Tour, pp. 264, 265. 
was extorted, under a ftate of ‘re-* 
ftraint, which, depriving him of all 
free agency, rendered him, by the” 
laws and confent of all_nations, in-- 
capable of any legal aét, or ‘that~ 
could be binding «#n himfelf, any’ 
longer than the compulfion which | 
produced it continued’ to operate. 
To remove this difficulty was 
juftly confidered an objeét of the 
greateft importance; and no means 
were accordingly to be fpared for 
its attainment. This could only be 
accomplithed by perfuafion; and the 
facility of the king’s nature feemed 
to afford no {mall hope of fuccefs, in 
any thing that depended upon that 
mode of proceeding. The defign 
was to induce the fovereign to go 
fuddenly, and apparently of his ewn’ 
mere motion, to the national aflem- 
bly, and there, in a fet fpeech, to 
declare himfelf perfectly fatisfied 
with all their proceedings, and like- 
wife, that he confidered himfelf as 
being at the head’ of the revolution, 
in terms fo explicit, as to take away 
all idea or pretence of his being in 
a ftate of coercion or confinement. 
La Fayette was either the framer of ~ 
this plan, or one of thofe. who was 
mott fanguine in its purfuit, and who 
placed the greateft Rotiienice’t in‘its © 
fuccefs. 
The aflembly had juft aiqstayaa 
an unexpected act of liberality and «- 
attention with refpeé to the king’s 
perfon, which could not but produce 
the greater effect from its being un- 
expected ; and which could not fail 
to make a ftrong impreffion on a 
mind fo very fufceptible of gratitude 
as his was known to be. For, on the 
queftion being propofed, juft at the 
opening of the year, what annual 
fum it would be fitting to affign for 
the 
s 
